"I have spilt more Irish blood than any other Englishman in history"!! This house was once the home of William Gates who founded of the first Cow & Gate creamery in Ireland in 1887.
Location of the first trading outlet of Mitchelstown Co-operative Agricultural Society, formed in 1919. By the mid 1960s it had become the largest multi purpose Co-op in Ireland and included Mitchelstown Creameries, Galtee Foods and Galtee A.I.
There is now a very fine Credit Union building in Ballydesmond dedicated to the memory of Nora Herlihy, a founder member of the Irish League of Credit Unions.
